It made landfall yesterday evening near Emiliano Zapata, a village in Jalisco state, sources from state-run SNM weather service told EFE. SNM monitoring stations recorded the hurricane at its maximum sustained winds at 305 kph, down slightly from a terrifying 325 kph hours earlier.

The hurricane, the largest on record in the Western Hemisphere, is moving toward the north-east at 22 kph.

Mexican authorities evacuated around 50,000 residents and tourists on the Pacific coasts of the states of Jalisco, Colima and Nayarit as the storm approached.

Patricia is expected to weaken quickly as it moves inland over mountains, though not before dumping torrential rains on those in its path.

Forming on Tuesday, Patricia reached hurricane status two days later and quickly intensified to a category 5 storm.